Typography - Task 1 / Exercises
23.4.2024 - 28.05.2024 / Week 1 - Week 6
Omar bin Shafik / 0371439
Typography / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 1 / Exercises
Fig 1, Change in weight in the strokes of the letters, (27.04.2024)
Fig 3, Text Type Classification from Left to Right, (27.04.2024)
Fig 5, Example of Tracking, (06.05.2024)
Fig 19, Dash GIF Final, (14.05.2024)
I read the chapter "Legibility" which talks about the different ways characters in a typeface could be distinguished and how one could make them more legible. It mentions things that could be disruptive to the reader's reading experience like letterspacing that is too wide and inappropriate wordspacing. It also mentions that different types of typefaces have differing weights. For example, a bold typeface will have a greater weight than an italic or roman form typeface since the strokes in a bold typeface will almost always have a thicker stroke than the latter. The books also explains how adding colour to the texts could also increase legibility if used effectively because of the way the letterforms will contrast against the colour of the page.
Omar bin Shafik / 0371439
Typography / Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Task 1 / Exercises
LIST
1. LECTURES
2. INSTRUCTIONS
5. FEEDBACK
6. REFLECTIONS
LECTURES
Week 1: Introduction
We were given a brief summary of the module and the tasks that are going
to be given to us to complete.
Development / timeline
Early Letterform Development: Phoenician to Roman
Initially, writing was just scratching forms out into a medium with a kind
of tool like a stick or a chisel. these forms which would then become
letterforms would be influenced over the years by how people held the
tools used to write them.
Fig 1, Change in weight in the strokes of the letters, (27.04.2024)
While many people wrote from right to left, the Greeks developed a writing
style where they would alternate the way they would write between lines of
text from right to left and left to right.
Hand script from 3rd - 10nth century C.E.
Fig 2, Timeline of letterform development, (27.04.2024)
Text Type Classification
Fig 3, Text Type Classification from Left to Right, (27.04.2024)
1450 Blackletter - Earliest printing type, based on hand copying
styles that were used for books in northern Europe then.
1475 Oldstyle - Based on the lowercase form used by Italian
humanist scholars and uppercase letterforms found on Roman ruins.
1500 Italic - echoes contemporary Italian handwriting. Used to be
its own class type but is now used to compliment roman forms ever since
the sixteenth century.
1550 Script - Originally an attempt to replicate engraved
calligraphic forms. Not really appropriate in lengthy text settings but is
still widely accepted. Forms range from formal and traditional to casual
and contemporary.
1750 Transitional - A refinement of oldstyle forms which
was achieved because of advances in casting and printing. Thick to thin
relationships were exaggerated and brackets were lightened.
1775 Modern - Further rationalization of oldstyle forms. Serifs
were unbracketed and the contrast between thick and thin strokes are
extreme.
1825 Square Serif/Slab Serif - Originally heavy bracketed serif
with little variation between thick and thin.
1900 Sans Serif - Eliminated the serifs alltogether.
1990 Serif/Sans Serif - Enlarges the notion of a family
to include both serif and sans serif alphabets.
Week 2: Developing
Mr. Vinod gave us feedback on our e portfolios and exercises to help us
develop our work further. We were told to think more about how others
perceive our type expressions and that we can make it simpler as long as
it is still able to express the word effectively. This week we were tasked
to digitize our words and record our process as we work on the assignment.
Tracking: Kerning and Letterspacing
Kerning: refers to the space in between letters.
Fig 4, Example of Kerning, (06.05.2024)
Letterspacing: adding space in between letters.
Tracking: addition or removal of space in a word/sentence.
Uppercase letters have always been letterspaced but it is questionable to
letterspace lowercase letters. Uppercase letterforms are drawn to be able
to stand on their own but lowercase letters need the counterform created
between letters to maintain the line of reading. If letterspacing is
added, it breaks the counterform.
Fig 6, Example of counterform, (06.05.2024)
Text Formatting
Gray Value: the value you see of a text when it is blurred.
Flush left: mirrors the asymmetrical experience of handwriting and the
right side of the text will be ragged.
Centered: makes the text symmetrical. Will be ragged on both sides.
Flush right: places emphasis on the end of a line. Ragged on the left.
Justified: add or removes the space between words or sometimes even
letters to impose symmetry on the text. Both sides will not be jagged.
Might end up in creating "rivers" in the text.
Texture
Learn how to use fitting typefaces in certain situations. Designers should
be able to discern whether a typeface suits the text it is being used in
or not.
Type with a generous x-height or heavy stroke width produces a darker mass
on the page than a relatively smaller x-height or lighter stroke.
Fig 7, Typeface anatomy, (06.05.2024)
Leading and Line Length
Type size: Text type should be readable at an arms length, around the same
distance that a book would be in your lap.
Leading: Text that is set too tightly can cause a reader to lose their way
easily. Text that is set too loosely could create "rivers" that distract
the reader from the text.
Line length: Appropriate line leading goes hand in hand with line length.
Shorter line length requires less leading and vice versa. A good rule of
thumb is to keep line length between 55-65 characters.
Type Specimen Book
A type specimen book shows samples of typefaces in various different
sizes. This can be referenced when making your own book. You should only
determine a choice on screen when its final version is to read on screen.
Fig 8, Type Specimen Book Sample, (06.05.2024)
Week 3:
We were given feedback again and told to digitize our designs by next
week. We were shown how to do it in class and given templates for us to
use once we have our final designs ready. We were also told that we are
able refer to past submissions or look stuff up online if we were stuck
and needed some inspiration or ideas. We were also tasked to animate one
of our chosen words.
Indicating Paragraphs
Pilcrow (¶): Placed at the end of paragraphs.
'Line space' (leading) between paragraphs: If the line space is 12pt then
the paragraph space should also be 12pt to ensure cross-alignment across
multiple columns of text.
Indenting: Seen at the beginning of paragraphs. Usually the same size of the line spacing or the same as the point size of the text.
Extended Paragraphs: creates unusually wide columns of text but could be used for compositional or functional needs.
Widows and Orphans
Should never occur in a text.
Widow: A short line of type left alone at the end of a column of text
Orphan: A short line of type left alone at the start of a new column.
In justified text both widows and orphans are big no noes. Flush right and ragged left are somewhat more pardonable for widows but only a little. Orphans should still not be allowed.
The only solution to widows is to rebreak line endings throughout the paragraph so that the end of the paragraph is not noticeably short. As for orphans, typographers are careful to not let any column start with the last line of a preceding paragraph.
Highlighting Text
Used to emphasize a portion of text. This can be done is several different ways.
Examples:
Highlighting text
Highlighting text
Highlighting text
Highlighting text
Highlighting text
Highlighting text
- Highlighting text
When changing typefaces to highlight text, the size of the font should be kept in mind and adjusted to fit the rest of the text. Sometimes numbers can also stand out since they are made to follow a capital height so some typographers reduce the point size of numbers by a little so that the numbers don't stand out too much from the rest of the text.
Quotation marks are also used to highlight text. Primes are straight quotes and aren't used for quotations. They are instead used to indicate inches and feet. Using primes as quotation marks can be considered dumb in typography nowadays.
Headline Within Text
Letters A, B, and C will be used to indicate the different headlines.
A Head: Indicates a clear break between topics. Usually set larger than the text, in bold, or in small capitals.
B Head: Subordinate to the A head. Indicates a new supporting argument. Shouldn't interrupt text as abruptly as A heads. Usually in small caps, italic, bold serif, or bold sans serif.
C Head: Used to highlight specific facets of text in B heads. Usually shown in small caps, italic, bold serif, or bold sans serif, same as B heads. They don' usually interrupt the flow of reading like A heads or B heads. Followed by an em space for some separation.
Cross Alignment
Having two bodies of text align with each other. If a text on one side is double the size of a text across it, you can double the leading as well and they should be aligned with each other.
Week 4:
We were given feedback on our final designs. I chose the word "dash" to
animate. I think it went well enough. We were tasked to do our second
exercise which is text formatting. We were given video tutorials and had
to submit it by the next week.
Describing Letterforms (most of them)
Specifying specific parts of letterforms. Knowing these will make it easier to identify typefaces.
Baseline - The imaginary line of the base of the letterforms.
Median - The imaginary line defining the x-height of letterforms.
X-height - The height in any typeface of the lowercase x.
Stroke - Any line that defines the basic letterform.
Apex/vertex - The point at which two diagonal stems join (apex if above and vertex if below).
Arm - The short strokes off the stem of the letterform. Can be either horizontal or inclining upwards.
Ascender - The portion of the stem that projects above the median.
Barb - The half-serif finish on a curved stroke.
Beak - The half-serif finish on a horizontal arm.
Bowl - The rounded form that describes a counter. May be either open or closed.
Bracket - The transition between the serif and the stem.
Cross Bar - Horizontal stroke that joins two stems.
Cross Stroke - Horizontal stroke seen in lowercase letterforms f and t.
Crotch - The interior space where two strokes meet.
Descender - The portion of the stem that projects below the baseline.
Ear - The stroke extending from the main stem of the letterform.
em/en - An em originally refers to the width of an uppercase M but now refers to the distance equal to the size of the typeface. An en is half the size of an em.
The Font
The full font of a typeface contains much more than 26 letters, numerals, and punctuation marks. To work successfully with a typeface, you should make sure to be working with a full font, also called a type family, which will include bold, italic, extended, compressed and other versions of a typeface.
Uppercase - Usually capital letters and certain accented vowels like c cedilla and n tilde, and the a/e and o/e ligatures.
Lowercase - Includes the same characters as uppercase.
Small capitals - Only reach up to the x height of the typeface. There are true small capitals and fake small capitals. Fake small capitals use a command that makes small capitals using already existing capitals and end up in the generated small capitals having thinner strokes than the rest of the typeface.
Uppercase numerals - Also called lining figures, are the same height as uppercase letters and are all set to the same kerning width.
Lowercase numerals - Also known as old style figures/text figures. Set to the x height and include ascenders and descenders.
Italic - Refers back to fifteenth century cursive Italian writing. Oblique are typically based on the roman form of the typeface.
Punctuation, miscellaneous characters - Standard punctuation marks are included in all typefaces but miscellaneous characters can vary from typeface to typeface.
Ornaments - Usually only used as flourishes in invitations or certificates. Basically just decoration.
Describing Typefaces
Roman - Called so because they are derived from inscriptions of Roman monuments. A slightly lighter stroke on roman is called Book.
Italic - Named for fifteenth century Italian handwriting.
Oblique - Basically a slanted version of the roman form of the typeface.
Boldface - A thicker stroke than a roman form. Can also appear as semibold, medium, black, extra bold, or super depending on the stroke thickness.
Light - A lighter stroke in the roman form.
Condense - A version of the roman form
Extended - A stretched version of the roman form.
Week 5:
We were given tutorials for our second task and informed of our deadline for Task 1. We were linked to a video demo on how to proceed with Task 2 and given texts to use in Microsoft Teams. In Task 2, we will be formatting a text of our choosing from the texts given to us in a similar way as we did the exercise in Task 1. As for the main title of the text, we will have to apply what we learnt in our type expressions exercise there.
INSTRUCTIONS
Fig 9, Typography Module Instruction Booklet (MIB),
(26.04.2024)
EXERCISE 1: TYPE EXPRESSIONS
We were given 13 words. We are to choose 4 from those 13 words and express
them using the 10 typefaces provided to us.
Sketching Phase
In this phase I initially searched up word expression on google and
tried imitating what I saw. Some of the images I referenced are
below.
Fig 10, References, (02.05.2024), Links are not clickable
I sketched out a few examples of what the words could look like based off
of the references I searched up.
Fig 11, Sketches, (26.04.2024), updated (04.05.2024)
For the word "open", I quite like 1a since I thought it was a clever use
of the word but after hearing Mr. Vinod's feedback I agree that 1c is
probably the most appropriate sketch for the word because of the clear
expression. 1e could also be interesting. As for the word "dash", I think
I'll only be able to use 2c because again, it expresses the word the best
in my eyes. The word "balance", for this word I think 3a will be the
sketch I digitise although it is probably the most common rendition of the
word. 4c is probably the strongest option for the word "flow".
Digitisation
My plan for this part of the task is to make a few variations of the
sketches that I chose, testing out different fonts and maybe trying other
sketches, and pick which ones I am satisfied with for the final.
I'l be referring to the images as #1, #2, #3, and #4 for the top left, top
right, bottom left, and bottom right respectively.
Fig 12, "Flow" Concepts, (05.05.2024)
I decided to work on the word "flow" first since I was having trouble with
it and wanted to see if I could do anything else with it. I decided to go
with something along the lines of 4d. Experimented with putting the
letters closer together, further apart, and with different fonts through
#1, #2, and #3. I ended up coming up with #4 where I arranged several
copies of the word "flow" to look like the ripples you can see in a river
with the biggest word being in the middle and the others being smaller
surrounding it in a flowing pattern.
Fig 13, "Open" Concepts, (05.05.2024)
For the word "open" I decided to go with 1c for this one and tried out 1e
just to see what it would look like. I tried using different fonts through
#1, #2, and #3. I also tried messing around with kerning in #3.
Fig 14, "Dash" Concepts, (05.05.2024)
I tried using 2a first to see how it would turn out after digitising but I
didn't quite like the look so I went with 2c for the rest of the concepts.
In #2 and #3, I tried using speed line and different fonts to see how they
would differ. I prefer the Bodoni font used in #2 because it looks like it
has more weight on the sides which implies more movement than the Gill
Sans font in #3. I tried removing the speed lines in #4 and making the
word itself look like a speed line by making it look like its fading away.
Fig 15, "Balance" Concepts, (05.05.2024)
In #1 and #3 I tried 3a and in #2 I tried 3d. #1 and #3 are pretty simple
with the "bal" and "nce" letters balancing on the letter "a" in the
middle. In #2 I tried adding effect lines to show some motion.
Final Type Expression
These are my final Type Expressions for Exercise 1.
Fig 16, Final Type Expressions JPEG, (12.05.2024)
Fig 17, Final Type Expressions PDF, (12.05.2024)
Type Expression Animation
For this, we had to pick one of our type expressions and make a short animation of it.
I started out with sketching out how the frames would look like. I tried applying some sort of physics to it by adding a pull back and lurch animation to imitate inertia. I also animated it in 12 frames per second because I think it would be a simple and fast way to do it. I also wanted it to loop so I picked the dash type expression because I thought of a way to male it loop.
Fig 18, Dash Storyboard, (14.05.2024)
I then digitized the storyboard using the type expression I made earlier. This is my final animation for Exercise 1.
Fig 19, Dash GIF Final, (14.05.2024)
EXERCISE 2: TEXT FORMATTING
First we learned how to use leading, letterspacing, and point sizes. We were told to play around with leading, letterspacing, and point sizes by using our names in different fonts.
Fig 20, Name Exercise, (24.05.2024)
After that, we were tasked to format some text that was provided
to us. We were linked videos that showed us how to do it. I started by sketching out some ideas for the text formatting in clip studio paint first.
Fig 21, Text Drafts, (24.05.2024)
I quite liked the middle one, so I decided to try formatting it in a similar way. This is also my final.
Fig 21, Text Formatting, (24.05.2024)
Fig 22, Text Formatting Gridded, (24.05.2024)
Fig 23, Text Formatting No Grid and Gridded (PDF), (24.05.2024)
FEEDBACK
Week 2: Add more to week 1 summary and add a further reading
section. Number the sketches and explain the meaning behind the
sketches. The word "flow" still needs to be worked on. Distortion and
graphical elements in the words are allowed as long as it doesn't take
away too much from the word.
Week 3: The word open could use a thicker font and the gap
could be a little smaller. The word balance could also use a thicker
font and separate the line from the letters. The word flow still needs
work.
Week4: know your fonts. when we did the animation we were
forced to observe reality, see how things work in real life and
translate them into animation. This is why he didn't want us to use
after effects. should have variety in artwork to keep the viewer's
attention.
Try experimenting with different fonts. should try more neutral fonts
for open. flow is good. animation is good as well. dash could also use a
more impactful like Futura which was also used in the Nike font.
Week 5: General feedback: Use leading and font size properly with leading usually being bigger
than the font size. Margins and columns can also be used to make
paragraphs and headings more appealing to look at if used properly.
Widows, orphans and rivers are unacceptable. The text under the image
should be 2 sizes smaller than the main content of the page.
Specific feedback: use proper units and increments.
REFLECTIONS
Experience
It was interesting learning about how deep typography can get with all
the typefaces and kerning and type expressions. I feel like we were
given a lot to do in this class which kind of stressed me out a little
bit. It was an fun experience nonetheless but I'm not sure if I might
pursue this further.
Observations
The lecturer, Mr. Vinod, is quite strict but he is very knowledgeable on
the subject. And after a while you could tell he wasn't all angry, he
was just making sure we did our work. All the students were able to pay
attention because of his loud voice too. Everyone was doing well in class too, and with the feedback from Mr. Vinod, they were able to improve on their work quickly.
Findings
I feel that I was able to improve on certain design aspects like
proportions and composition. I try and get better at meeting deadlines.
FURTHER READING
Week 2:
A type primer
Fig 24, "A type primer" Cover, (06.05.2024)
I read the chapter "Describing letterforms" under "Basics". It explains
how letterforms are made up of different components which are able to
help differentiate between different typefaces. It goes through all of
the components, some of which are Arms, Ascenders and Barbs.
Week 3:
Vignelli Canon on Design
Fig 25, "Vignelli Canon on Design" Cover, (13.05.2024)
This time I read the chapter "Paper Sizes". There are two paper size
systems used in the world: the international A sizes and the American
sizes. The International A sizes also known as the A series, is based
off the golden rectangle, used by many countries and based on the
German DIN metric Standards. America uses a basic letter size (8 1/2 x
11") with ugly proportions which results in an endless amount of paper
sizes. The A4 is the basic size for stationary. Two thirds of it make
up a square due to the usage of the golden rectangle, which is the DIN
sizes are used as much as possible. There are as many as 28 different
standard sizes in America and the only reason people use them is
because everyone else in America uses them. Different paper is used
depending on the situation and designers tend to use paper that is
more ecologically sound without compromising the end result. The size
of the paper matters when designing a book or brochure.
Week 4:
Typographic Design: FORM AND COMMUNICATION
Fig 26, "Typographic Design: FORM AND COMMUNICATION" cover, (19.05.2024)
I read the chapter "Legibility" which talks about the different ways characters in a typeface could be distinguished and how one could make them more legible. It mentions things that could be disruptive to the reader's reading experience like letterspacing that is too wide and inappropriate wordspacing. It also mentions that different types of typefaces have differing weights. For example, a bold typeface will have a greater weight than an italic or roman form typeface since the strokes in a bold typeface will almost always have a thicker stroke than the latter. The books also explains how adding colour to the texts could also increase legibility if used effectively because of the way the letterforms will contrast against the colour of the page.
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